Out Of The Black
by TrintaC
Summary: FireflyRiddick crossover. Will eventually be JayneRiver and RiddickJack. River tracks down Riddick and convinces him to join the crew so he can get to Jack who's in a bit of trouble. Not good at summaries. First attempt at fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

Out Of The Black- Chapter One

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Firefly and Riddick are not mine, though I wish they were! This is my first attempt at fanfiction and if anyone wants to offer suggestions feel free. Hope you like it. It will make more sense once I write more of it, I swear. So just bear with me

Just another job gone wrong. Not like anything the Captain ever came up with went according to plan. Least this time they got to believing it was real shiny like. Drop off a couple of crates and take their payment. Didn't have to do more than point ole Vera at one of them suckers that got it into his head to think of a double-crossing. That thought went away real quick like. So all in all things looked good and I was looking forward to getting the hell off this aiya sorry excuse for a planet. Course nothin' ever goes too right for our crew. Just 'fore taking off that shen jing bing gorram of a girl opened the bay doors and took off. Figures that the doc can't keep one wisp of a girl in line for five tyen-sah minutes. Everyone else was off near the bridge so I shouted over the intercom that the crazy girl's flown the coop and took off after her into the dark. A man's work is just never done around this ole boat.

_Running. Must run, move faster. Mind filled hurting loud. Screams of darkness and death. Fury contained barely, reaching through the night. Hunter becomes the hunted. Must help, make the screaming stop. It rushes in her head till her thoughts are buried by the others. Deep pain and hurt. Lost in the darkness. Scared of the light. Can't come out. Can't stop running. _

_Gorram girl can't have gone far. Don't know where the hell she's heading in such a hurry. 'pose to be getting the hell off this rock. Now where the hell did she go…_

The sound of crumbling rocks sounded from above and Jayne wrenched his head upward only to see River peering at him from the top of one of the scattered boulders that spotted the land. Her long unkempt hair reaching down to dangle just above his head and her pale face marked by an exasperated look was enough to make him jump back a step.

"listen here crazy, what'cha have to run all the way out here for. We need to go back to the ship and you can go have that gorram brother of yours take care of you like he's s'pose to. Now come on down off that here rock and let's go." Jayne stated as he looked around nervously with a hand on his gun.

"Can't fly now, need to help the Riddick. He's yelling inside her head oh so loudly and doesn't know how to stop. Needs to escape. Hiding caged with the rocks. Can't get free. Needs to be in the black. Someone calling him. Needs him though he fights that too. Smells like fury, tastes like black." Slithering back out of sight, River jumps and lands lightly on the ground. Her skirt swirling around her as her worn combat boots grip the dirt. Holding a finger out to Jayne as a way of saying be quiet and crouching down, she walks to another boulder and stands with her back pressed against it. Turning her head to the side she says, "Peas in a pod we are, come out pea. Serenity swallowed me up now she's hungry for more. Take you in and make you free. Come with her save the princess from her tower. She calls for you but you can't hear. Your ears have run away. Come find them in the field. Riddick come out to play. No one to fear in the dark."

Twin balls of light reflect the small remains of light in the sky and move slowly as a figure stepped out from the dark. Tall framed man, broad shoulders and a gleaming skull all seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Instinctively Jayne tightened his grip on his gun and glanced back and forth between the girl and the man.

"How do you know my name little girl. No one knows I'm here and if you're looking for a bounty, let me tell you, it ain't worth it trying to bring me in."

"No bounty nor bread. Not relevant. Heard you in the dark, yelling swarming couldn't make the voices stop. You drowned the others all out. Follow me, she needs you. All alone, chased and hurt, she calls your name in her dreams."

_Jack. Who else could she be talking about. Strange lil girl, doesn't seem all there. Figure I could follow her. Been in this hell hole a bit too long. Girl can't be a theat and that gorilla of a fellow wouldn't pose much of a threat_. "Where we going to then little girl, don't you know you shouldn't talk to strangers at night?" Riddick asks with a smirk on his face as he stalks forward like an animal to circle the object of his attention.

"Not a stranger. Knows you as she knows herself. Kindred spirits we are. Caged birds straining against our cages. But the bars are not important. She needs you now and we must go if we are to reach her in time. Save her from herself. Tried to become you after you left. Search you out. Stirred the hornets nest instead. Now they swarm and sting at her and only the Riddick can get her out."

"Well you're all types of crazy now ain't you darling. Don't see how anyone could use my help. Don't you know, I'm just an animal."

"Jack." River whispered and with that turned and began to run back towards Serenity. Jayne and Riddick glanced at each other before following. Neither neglecting to keep their eyes on the other. Jayne muttering to himself about inviting strangers on their boat and how Mal is going to give him a new hole to worry bout when he gets back on the ship. Riddick's thoughts, however, were father away. Focused on a girl named Jack that he thought he left out of harm's way.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed: TotallyRiddickObsessed (who isn't lol), Dragonflam, Drakb, Babyblue, Angel Monroe, and Anna. Hope you like this chapter too. This is just a little excerpt from Jack, but the next chapter will be getting back to Serenity. So I hope you won't be disappointed. And I don't own Firefly nor Riddick so please nobody sue! 

_ They let the dogs out to play early today. At least that's how it seems. Can never be sure just how much time has passed down here. Best I can figure is it's been two years since I've been trapped down here. Don't know how much longer I'll have to will to keep going. The days are so very long and with the last group of inmates some of these cretins have been spending way too much of their time trying to get their hands on me. No matter how many I kill, more just seem to spring out from the cracks._

Crawling through the dark, she passes to scan outside her current hiding place, a hole of sorts dug into the back of a cell, and emerges to stand in the dim light cast by the dingy lights that run overhead. Checking to make sure that her weapons are at the ready, one shiv resting in a modified holster on her thigh, another hidden inside her boot, a razor blade hidden in the mouth, and her ever so cleverly spring loaded blades at the heel of her boots. Seeing that she had all of her usual safety precautions in place, the tall lithe woman shook her mass of ebony waves back from her face and stalks down the metal catwalks. Most of the prison population is in hiding, not many dare to face the beasts unleashed by the guards who would just as soon kill a convict as look at them. For her, this is one of the brief times that she can wander. The animals don't much bother her, must be they recognize her as an animal too. If one does happen to figure her out as a bit of sport, it's not that hard to scale a wall or drop a level and make them lose their scent. Pity not everyone else notices it about her.

She was once a different person, known to a few as a runaway named Jack. A girl dressed as a boy to keep the hunters off her back. Far too many people in this universe that will look at a girl and try to use her, hurt her. Much safer to be a boy. Too bad that disguise didn't last. The only man who ever saw straight through her disguise before she had started to develop had smelled blood on her. As if bleeding once a month wasn't bad enough, but to have someone be able to smell it? Must just be an animal thing. That man saved her life and left her just as quickly. Said it was for her own safety but look where she ended up because of it. Riddick. That name sounds like a blessing and a curse. Just the sound of it is enough to send shivers down her spine.

After he left her and the holy man on New Mecca, mercs caught up to them. Guess someone had spotted the Big Bad in their company and wanted to use them as bait. Took the kid, killed the holy man. She had to feel his blood run over her face as she struggled to get away. After a while, when Riddick never came, the mercs decided to sell her out and try to make some profit out of the whole thing. Spent three years on their ship. Getting sold out to the perverts of the world and the crew in their off hours. One day they finally slipped up. She was able to get her hands on a misplaced shiv and made her first kill. Slit his throat from ear to his collar bone. Not the cleanest kill, but ones born from desperation tend to be like that. Made it to an escape pod and jettisoned, but the mercs turned her in. Found the pod and she got sent to this slam where they said she'd never see the light of day again, deemed her a murderer. The first kill was in self defense, so was the second and the third and so forth. Too many people trying to hurt the new kid in the slam. After that it started getting easier. Now the slam is her playground while the dogs are out, and her nightmare when the inmates roam the catwalks. Killing became another way of staying alive, of getting food, and over the years more and more of soul seemed to die. If she couldn't get out of here soon, there wouldn't be much left to recognize as a person. Jack died the first time they slaved her out and over the years someone new was born. But even this new animal, the woman named Kyra, is beginning to fade.


	3. Chapter 3

Out Of The Black- Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Firefly and Riddick are not mine, though I wish they were!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Drakb, TotallyRiddickObsessed, AngelMonroe, Michebabyblue, Anna and Kitten 2.

TotallyRiddickObsessed and AngelMonroe, thank you for pointing out that I was changing tenses, I will work on it in the future. I'm just not very good at 1st person. Sorry its taken so long to review! This chapter is really short because I'm not sure how the rest of the crew should react. I'll try to continue it shortly but any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

::Serenity: In the black::

_Italics indicate thoughts _

Jayne sat hunched over off his bed painstakingly cleaning his favorite hun, Vera. _I can't believe that gorram girl got Riddick into the ship without anyone knowing. Mal's gonna skin my hide if he finds out I knew. Never seen a man disappear into the shadows so quick. It ain't human. No man should be able to move like that. If she hadn't told me to be quiet…. hell… why did I listen? _Sighing, Jayne started putting Vera back together, taking his time and trying to keep his mind off of Serenity's latest addition.

-------------------

Wash left the ship in the capable hands of his many plastic dinosaurs and ambled his way down to the mess area looking for something to snack on. He stops short when he reaches the doorway and sees Riddick sitting at the table.

"Um…. Zoe! hunny, there's a strange large man eating all our food down here." Wash yells as he stands frozen in the doorway. Riddick looks up, cocks his head at Wash, and continues eating. River skips in and sits down next to Riddick, grabbing a bun off of his plate. She looks up and grins at Wash, mouth full of bread.

Zoe and Mal enter, guns drawn, in response to Wash's yelling. Riddick looks up again and asks smirking, " So this is how you treat a guest on your ship cap't, doesn't seem too friendly to me."

Mal lowers his gun a bit and says, "Well stranger, this here is my boat and I don't recall extending you an invitation. Mind telling me who you are and why I shouldn't throw you out the airlock?"

Zoe, noticing River still stealing food off of Riddick's plate turns to her and says, "River, hun, do you know who this man is?"

"Puppy was lost. Needs his kitten. So helped him find his way. He purrs in my head."

Riddick stops eating and turn to the grinning girl on his right, "I purr?" and only gets a giggle in return.

"Ok, well seeing as how our resident trouble maker here seems to have taken a shine to ya, I reckon you can stay on board till we reach our next port, as long as you're willing to lend a hand around the ship. Now that don't mean for a second that I won't shoot you if you cause me any trouble. I just don't want to have my little albatross getting all upset for no reason. So you mind telling us your name? and Dohn luh mah?" Mal gives his welcoming speech to Riddick as he attempts to set down the rules.

Sitting back from the table and stretching his arms back over his head, causing his chest muscles to strain against his shirt and cracking a few vertebrae audibly, Riddick lazily looks around and says, "Now why don't we hold off on the introductions till the whole little family is here. I don't care to repeat myself."


	4. Chapter 4

Out Of The Black- Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Firefly and Riddick are not mine, though I wish they were!

Thanks to TotallyRiddickObsessed who helped me out by reading this before hand so you won't have to suffer the little mistakes that I am so good at!

_-- The crew is scattered around the mess waiting for to find out about their new arrival---_

_Mal---_ "Well the families all here stranger so why don't I just start with the introductions here before we hear you out. The blond man over there is my pilot Wash, my right hand man here is named Zoe and she'll take you out quicker than you can blink if you don't mind your manners. Going down the line, the preppy boy is our resident doc named Simon. I believe you already know is kid sister here since she's the one who brought you along. Her name is River. Now the big guy in the corner is named Jayne and the pretty little bird over there is over genius mechanic Kaylee. Now as you know this here is my ship, which would make me the captain around here. So mind letting us know who you are and what you're doing on my bird?"

Shifting slightly in his chair, Riddick sizes up the various crew members and after sharing a look with the little crazy decides that he has nothing to lose by being straight with them. They don't look like the type to be friendly with mercs. Clearing his throat with a light growl and sending out his most charming smile Riddick begins to talk. "My name is Riddick… As to why I'm on your ship, you're little girl over there found me outside and told me I should come along. There's someone I left a few years back that needs me and she said coming along was the only way to help them. So I'm not looking for any trouble here. I'm good with a gun if you need another hired hand until I'm ready to get off this boat. So do we have an understanding?"

Mal glanced round his crew and after seeing the slight nod from his second agrees to let Riddick stay onboard. He tells the crew he wants a minute to talk to River and they should get about their business. He gives Jayne the task of keeping Riddick gainfully employed for a bit cleaning out the hold. After everyone leaves he takes a seat and turns to face River who is now sitting cross legged in the center of the table with her face perched in her hands.

"So little one, mind telling me where you reckon we have to go and why" Mal asked in a slightly amused voice.

"Of course captain. He cried out to her across the black and she couldn't block him out. He's louder than everyone on Serenity combined. So much pain and darkness surrounds such a tender hidden heart. His kitten needs us now before she's crushed. He won't bite anyone and matches well in your crew. She will too, for a time before they find their own place. The planet of fire and scorched earth keeps her locked in and she needs a knight to help her find her way out. We need to set the course soon." River states in her most coherent way.

Mal blinks as he pieces together what River said… The only place in this part of the system that it could be is Crematoria, but that's a triple max slam… But he's learned by now to listen to what River says and if she thinks this has to be done, he just needs some more details. "River, mind giving me a little bit more info on what all we need to get done?"

---- River convinces Mal to go to Crematoria to mount a rescue for Jack and earn a side profit by robbing the guards while their there and the trip begins. Convincing Riddick to stay on the ship and to calm Simon down enough to let River go along was the hard part. After landing, Mal, Zoe and River head down the shaft in the pretense of talking to the guards about the profit of turning in a prison they're keeping on board until negotiations are finished. Mal and Zoe each take out one guard upon entering the station while River takes out another four with a series of well placed kicks and punches.

Mal opens the hatch leading down into the prison and stands guard while River climbs down the rope quickly to the ground below. Inmates gather round at this strange site and at the fact that a pretty female is coming into their hands but a new series of turns and kicks as well as Kyra's lethal chain discourages the bulk of the watching crowd. The Guv tries giving his welcome speech but is interrupted by River saying, "Thank you Tom Davis, but it is not necessary to incorporate me." River turns to the shadows and says, "Hello sister, are you ready to go? Your puppy grows restless and may bite the crew if we take any longer. After you…" River gestures to the still dangling rope and Kyra doesn't hesitate but jumps from the rock ledge and begins hauling herself up the rope foot by foot. River quickly follows as all hell is breaking out beneath them as the inmates start to riot trying to reach the rope as well. The guv tries to follow them but gets caught up in the brawl and by the time the two girls reach the guard station at the top and close the hatch, the ground was littered with the bodies of at least fifteen dead inmates and countless more still fighting each other. Mal and Zoe waste no time leading the way back to the ship and in what seems like almost no time they reach it.

Kyra had followed silently, examining those around her as she ran. This was definitely not how she expected this day to go but she wasn't complaining. The girl who came down and got her had mentioned a puppy… but could it possibly be Riddick after all this time? Did he finally come back for her? What does it all mean? But all of her thoughts rushed to a halt as they neared the old firefly model ship and she could see a dark outline of a tall and built man standing on the ramp of the ship.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

I am so sorry for leaving this story the way I did, the only excuse I have is life caught up to me. I am trying to get back into it. I'll try to write as kids and life allows. The Chinese sayings are probably going to stop since it's been so long and I don't feel like looking them up right now. This chapter is short and I apologize for that but I'm trying to jumpstart my creative juices. As for the people who think this story is written in a confusing manner….well the characters I'm writing as are all a bit crazy so it just kind of comes out that way.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Firefly/Serenity/Riddick world. Just another fan!

* * *

Riddick had been beside himself waiting for River and her crew to come back with Jack. Not that Simon would ever be able to tell, Riddick keeps his turmoil on the inside. Peering into the darkness, he straightens as someone begins to walk into view. A woman from the slight built but of a leaner stature than Zoe and taller than River. _Could that be Jack? _Riddick inhales deeply and catches a familiar scent mixed with dirt. Strutting forward he reaches the woman and stares at her. "Jack?" he questions.

"The name is Kyra now" replies the woman with a strong voice as she cocks her head to the side. "Nice to know I haven't been forgotten completely." With that she moves around him and quickly boards the ship. Riddick smiles to himself. _Now that is a whole different animal. _An animalist urge to possess fills him and he is about to follow her aboard when a little slip of a girl appears at his side. "Kitten needs to rest, not time to claim. Leaving now before guards wake up" whispers River before gliding into the ship in the trail of the other woman. The rest of the crew follows and minutes later they are in the air guiding towards the black while Mal and Jayne croon over the money they stole from the guards.

Meanwhile River has caught up to Kyra and leads her to an empty bunk. "Welcome home sister, Serenity is calm and strong, she'll keep you safe while you rest. Puppy wants to claim you but the girl will keep him away for a time," sings River as she guides her to a bed. Kyra is not quite sure what to think of this girl but something inside her seems to trust her. _Riddick as a puppy huh?_ _Not how I would choose to describe him. I don't know what to think right now, everything is different. Not an hour ago I was watching my back in a place of hell, now I'm on a ship with this girl and my hero… No, not my hero. He left me. Riddick… the big bad. Never thought I would see him again. Wonder what he thinks of me now? Probably still thinks I'm a weak little girl. Well I'll show him _she thinks with a smirk. Stretching her back out she takes in the room and thinks to herself _this will do for a while. _Filled with an unfamiliar sense of content and could it be safety? Kyra lays back on the bed and allows herself to relax. To think about the strange wisp of a girl who just left her room. To the men that worked with her to break her out of that slam. To the man she dreamed of for so many nights. Thoughts swirling in her head she drifted off to sleep, for once not needing to keep a shiv in her hand.

In the other room Riddick paces back and forth wondering about the girl named Jack he had left behind and how much of that little girl survives inside this new creature. This Kyra... _Beautiful. _


	6. Chapter 6

Hi! I'm so sorry this isn't a chapter. It's been a long time since I've started this story and a lot has changed since then. I'm actually more of a Riddick/River shipper now and am not quite sure what direction to take this story. I'll try to get at least one more chapter out with some Riddick/Kyra goodness in it since we haven't had any yet but would love some ideas on what you want to happen. If you are still reading thank you so much for sticking with it and if you have any ideas you want to see happen please let me know and I'll do what I can. Have a lovely day and thank you for reading!


End file.
